Its finally here....ICE! I spent most of Sunday and Monday driving around checking conditions throughout the area on Poygan, BDM, and Winnebago. As of today the 16 there was anywhere from 4-8 inches of ice out on Poygan and guys are getting around with wheelers and snowmobiles pretty easily. Back in the bays and in the channels, there are some pretty decent numbers of perch, gills and a few crappies. The biggest thing I found was to sit tight and not move around a whole lot...find a pocket in some weeds and wait it out. I was using a #14 glow red gill pill tipped with either a few eurolarvae or a crushed waxie. Keep the bait moving at all times to bring them in!

Out on BDM, Sunset has been the best place for fish mainly due to all the construction over by skipper buds. There are a bunch of fish around but the problem is they are very moody. One day they are there biting so fast you cant keep your bait in the water and the next day they hide? I guess thats fishing! Same thing for bait but I have been fishing a little deeper water towards the lake more. Less pressure out away from the people. The other thing i have found is that it has been a mid day bite vs. a morning or evening bite.

Winnebago is firming up nicely and should be able to venture out a ways by the weekend if it stays cold! However i dont foresee the fishing to be all that great for the whitebass and walleye fishing for a while with all the food out there. But. I have been wrong before and hope i am this time as well. The bays and channels are sitting with about 6" of ice right now with some of the shorelines being very rugged with the wind blown ice that is sticking up all over the place. BE VERY CAREFUL IF YOU ARE TRAVELING BY ATV OR SNOWMOBILE!!! The ice is very jagged and dangerous... The fish bit very well a week ago or so in the bays before the big snow but since then things have calmed down in the bays and channels. Out in the deeper weeds off the reefs or off the shorelines in about 5-9 feet of water, perch and gills seem to be everywhere along with the micro-perch. Keep moving around until you dont catch any of the little perch and the bigger gills, perch and crappies will be there - just on the outside of the small perch.

You can check out the video that goes along with the report and see exactly how we caught these fish with w a few other tips and tricks by clicking on the video link below.

Video Report

Good Luck, Stay Safe, Smart and DRY! Tight Lines, Bluegill